Dance music has been part of the mainstream music industry in the UK for decades, but in the past few years the genre has grown bigger than ever, with DJs such as Skrillex, David Guetta and Swedish House Mafia becoming global superstars.

In the US, where they like to call the genre "electronic dance music", or EDM, big entertainment companies – most recently Dick Clark Productions, the producer behind the Golden Globes – is getting in on the act, no doubt spurred on by its domination at festivals such as Coachella. Yet the makers of dance music are less likely to get paid royalties when their music is performed than those in almost any other genre.

Dance music makes up about 15% of BBC Radio 1's output, yet only 50% of the songwriters that create it receive any royalties for those plays, according to the songwriters' collection society PRS. This is because the information PRS holds for the tracks is incomplete.

Not only do writers of this genre appear to be less likely to register their songs correctly than most other genres – some of them aren't even aware that they need to join PRS to receive these royalties.

The problems with distributing royalties for dance music does not stop with radio plays – an even bigger problem is distribution of payments for clubs and festivals. PRS says that only 35% of setlists were completed at the 2011 Creamfields festival – and a paltry 15% at Glade. In comparison, 90% of the acts performing at the predominantly guitar-based Reading completed their setlists.

It could be argued that part of the reason for this discrepancy is that bands at festivals such as Reading are more likely to be playing their own songs, so it's in their interest to report accurately. DJs, however, may have longer setlists and arguably have less of an incentive to file a setlist.

The PRS per-play rate for concerts and festivals is lower than many other European countries – it's based on a percentage of the ticket price that is lower than what the credit card companies charge for processing it – but for songwriters it can add up. An average setlist at the above festivals is worth about £250 in royalties, and with about 171 DJ sets at each festival, that's a potential £85,500 not being paid to the correct writers from these two events alone.

This is why PRS has launched a new dance music initiative called Amplify, with a committee at the helm that includes industry veteran John Truelove (the man behind You Got the Love, which was famously covered by Florence + the Machine), indie dance label representatives and AIM.

PRS says that to deal with the lack of proper reporting of setlists, it will be working with DJ technology specialists to find a way for clubs, radio and live performances to report automatically, using fingerprint technology. On a more basic level, Amplify will also work to raise awareness among emerging electronic music writers that they need to join PRS in order to get paid when their music is performed.

But David Elkabas, A&R and creative director of the MN2S agency and label that represents DJs and dance music artists, says the reason many acts in his community don't register with PRS is because they don't think it caters to their needs. "While Amplify is a step in the right direction, it's simply not enough," he said.

Club play royalties have never been distributed accurately, he says. Historically, club play royalty distribution was based on the club charts, which were compiled using DJ "reaction sheets" of upcoming promo tracks.

While larger stations, such as Radio 1, now have the facilities to report accurately, smaller stations – including online radio stations – are still only obliged to submit sample playlists, Elkabas explains. Royalty fees are then distributed based on the anticipated number of times a song could have been played, according to its exposure, popularity and its position in the music charts.

Licensing fees for dance clubs and smaller premises are distributed based on similar analogies, so the result is, naturally, that it's more likely the royalties will go to more commercial, chart-topping songs that are broadcast on mainstream radio.

Elkabas says that MN2S has been in talks with PRS about fingerprint technology for some time, but that the collection society deemed the development of such a system too expensive, and perhaps not affordable enough to be used at smaller venues and radio stations. To tackle the problem, Elkabas suggests that songwriters could reduce the royalty rates for venues that install fingerprinting technology.

It's a dilemma that music rights organisations have been battling for some time: per-stream royalties are so incredibly low – a fraction of a penny – that the cost of processing them (and dividing and distributing them between the writers of the track and their respective publishers) is higher than the actual revenue.

According to Elkabas, many makers of less mainstream dance music currently receive such tiny royalties from PRS that those who are not members deem even the one-off joining fee of £30 too high to bother. But, as Bernie Ecclestone once said: if you're not sitting at the table, the chances are you are on the menu.